I need to know how to do an outdoor concrete floor.
By Maritza from Ocala, FL
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You don't say how big the floor is going to be. For something big I would hire a contractor to do the work. However, if it is a small area you have to dig down a depth,put in gravel, sand, build a form to contain the concrete, mix up the concrete,pour and take out any air pockets,smooth the top surface and add some grooves to prevent cracking. I would go to Home Depot or Lowes and look at the do-it-yourselfer books that will explain in detail and pictures how to do the job.
I should also add some terminology. cement is the powder that is mixed with water to make the concrete.
At the big box store you buy the cement in bags that may or may not have the aggregate mixed in the bag. Add water but not to much to make it too soupy and may cause the concrete to fail when it cures.
Do you plan on mixing your own cement or using redi-mix where a truck comes and pours it for you? I know nothing about mixing your own cement. Depending on the size of the floor you are planning on, you will have to do it in sections.
My now, "ex" and I poured a cement drive way. It was a single car width driveway and about 40 feet long. In order to smooth the cement he fastened two 8ft. long 2x4s together so that they would be long enough for each one of us to hold and use rubbing them back and forth across the cement for what seemed like an awful long time. Before you do the cement you will have to dig out dirt/grass/etc. to the depth that you want the cement. You will also have to build forms as a frame for the cement, that after the cement has dried for quite awhile will be removed. I can't remember how long we left the forms in, but to me it seemed like a long time.
We did our drive way in sections for economic reasons. If you do the cement in sections, you will have to put something that looks like about 1/2 inch thick felt between the sections. My actual recommendation would be to go to the library and look for a book about cement or go to diy.com and see what you can find out. You could even probably google it and find the information that you need.
Thank all of you is very helpful. Actually is a very small area is about 3 ft long an like 2 ft wide so I hope we can do it our self thanks again.
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